“Oh! I’ll buckle down to the job without being forced that way,” Andy hurriedly assured the scout leader. “What’s the next thing on the program?”
“I know you’re just dying to get into the amusement section of the Exposition called the Zone, and which is a good deal like the Streets of Cairo and the Midway of the Chicago Fair. I’ll make a bargain with you, Andy.”
“All right; let’s hear the particulars,” exclaimed the other eagerly.
“First of all,” began Rob, “I want to get rid of this suitcase, and we’ll make for that tobacconist’s odd booth, to leave it with him until we’re going back to the hotel.”
“That’s over this way, past the big California building, with the Oregon one that has a colonnade of logs alongside. Well, after we’ve shunted the bag on the man who runs the tobacco shop, what next?”
“We’ll put in the rest of the morning,” Rob explained, “in rummaging through some of these places clustering around the Tower of Jewels. I’ve got a string of things I’m wild to see, and that’s as good a place to make a start as anywhere.”
“That brings us to noon, when we agreed to meet Hiram, you remember, for lunch?” Andy reminded his chum.
“Yes, and I understand there are dozens and dozens of eating places to be found in the Zone. If you want you can have an Arab dinner, a Chinese chop suey, a French meal à la carte, a German one, or anything your taste calls for. So we might as well head that way for our lunch, and pick out a place that seems to promise good things for hungry fellows.”
“Huh! after I once get inside the Zone, Rob, nothing can drag me out again for the whole afternoon. So, I hope you’ve concluded to make a sacrifice, and devote the rest of the day to keeping me company in roaming around among all the queer sights they tell me you can run up against there.”
Rob nodded his head and smiled.